With just about two weeks to the general polls, civil society organisations (CSOs) in the country cautioned the military against meddling in politics.
The CSOs under the auspices of Civil Society Coalition for Transparency and Good Governance noted that it is wrong for military personnel to dabble into governance.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja spokesperson of the CSOs, Nse Udoh, noted that at this critical time, they are at the forefront of sensitising the general public on the need for a peaceful elections as well as preservation of the Nigeria’s democracy.
According to him, the focus of the CSOs at the moment is how to disseminates accurate information to members of the public on issues relating to voting and how best to participate in elections.
Udoh said: “We are at liberty to support any candidate that we consider good enough, but in supporting these candidates, as civil societies, who should constitute the enlightened and informed components of society, it would be a disservice to our democracy to constitute ourselves among those who do anything to endanger peaceful elections.”
The CSOs noted that elections offers the opportunity for the country to grow and deepen her democracy.
It said, “In growing and deepening our democracy, we must remember that the instrument of information must not be used at the detriment of others. What do we mean? Military personnel are our component members of society. But when military personnel dabble into governance, we say that it is wrong for military to interfere in politics.”
The coalition urged CSOs to continue informing the society on the developmental processes regarding elections or mobilize citizens properly for elections.
The group called another group, the Rule of Law and Justice Initiative, to desisit from dishing out inaccurate information.
It said, “Before we reach out to the public, it is a disservice to the nation and a dishonor to ourselves as civil societies for us to give out wrong information to the society and also malign the character of citizens without investigating.”
